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Colorado, 2013

Challenges and opportunities await

By Erika Stutzman

Posted:
01/03/2013 01:00:00 AM MST

The men and women elected to the Colorado Legislature will gather on Wednesday for the start of what is expected to be a compelling year for state politics. The crystal ball crowd has a lot of predictions about what may come up over the course of 2013; of particular interest will be how Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat nationally known as a moderate, will be able to retain that reputation in a purple state that now has Democrats in control of both the state House and Senate.

Here are some of the issues that are bound to come up:

Civil Unions: The 2012 session may be best remembered in the future as the year House Republicans bent over backward to keep civil unions from a fair hearing.

A ban on gay marriage was unfortunately put into the state constitution by voters -- something that just might be invalidated in by the U.S. Supreme Court this year -- so a civil unions law would be the next best thing. But it garnered too much support from both parties, leading Republican leadership to take the coward's way out by shipping it to a kill committee.

A bill is expected this session, it has wide popular and legislative support, and the governor is eager to sign it. This will be a good year for civil rights for all in Colorado.

Death Penalty: Some legislators have been talking about revisiting a bill to abolish the death penalty in Colorado, and such early talk has gotten some high-profile support including from Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett.

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It's more expensive for the state to kill a murderer than to keep him in jail for life. The last time such a move was considered, the money saved from death penalty cases was going to be applied to reviewing cold cases. We agree with the death penalty opponents who argue that the punishment is unevenly applied and politicized; it wastes money and time; and that it doesn't serve as a deterrent to the types of crimes that qualify for it.

Last year, Connecticut became the 17th state to eliminate the death penalty, the fifth state to do so in just five years. Colorado should join that list.

Tuition rates: Other states have managed to provide more opportunities to their own high school graduates than Colorado. Successful, undocumented high school graduates who were brought to this country by their parents as little kids don't qualify for in-state tuition -- even if they've been here since they were babies. Providing them with unsubsidized in-state rates will most likely be proposed again this year, and it stands a good chance at passing. Providing opportunities for Colorado high school graduates and expanding a home-grown educated workforce will be a welcome change.

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